<p>“the restaurants mandatorily reported 8%, if I had been working at the place I mentioned, with no tips on to gos, nickel tips on counter orders and no tips from many Europeans, I would be having tips reported to the IRS which I had never received. Hmmm”</p>
<p>Back in the day when I was a young, foolish waitress, and didn’t even know that I needed to report my measly income, I got a letter from the IRS, saying that they had figured I’d received thousands of dollars in tips, based upon 8% of my food sales. WHAT? Turns out all those older waitresses who were always saying, “Honey, could you ring up this big check for me? You are sooo much faster at the cash register than I am,” were scamming me, getting me to put their food sales on my ID number, so I would be taxed for it, and not them.</p>
<p>Luckily, the IRS doesn’t hold you to that if you keep a tip log showing differently. I sent them a letter of explanation, and my tip log…and forgot to include the tip log. Never heard a word back, guess they decided it wasn’t worth going after my pennies. Or maybe they thought they lost the log.</p>
<p>Or maybe it’s all accruing interest, due in 2040, 2 million dollars.</p>
<p>Different than some here, my decision to tip, or how much, isn’t dependent on the wages of the person. Some have suggested “because they’re in low paying jobs…” no, not for me. My decision is based on the quality of the service for those typically in a tip position. I don’t tip a bank cashier even if he/she is prompt and courteous. I don’t tip the clerk at a mechanics’ shop that takes my money and hands me my keys.
I don’t tip the person who hands me my food if I walk into a restaurant to pick up my meal. I do tip if I sit down and am served in the restaurant.
I understand people had to do their jobs; the food supplier, the truck driver, the oven maker, the cook, the sack supplier, the maker of plastic utensils, etc for the counter person to hand me my meal. But I feel if I am walking in to get my meal, I’m really not being served. To me, that is much the same as the McD example.</p>
<p>The one that puzzles me is a (breakfast) buffet- where the server does nothing more for me than bring my drink and then tell me to serve myself. Where do they fall in?</p>
<p>I tip because I feel generous and I want to bring a bit of happiness to someone. I don’t really stop to think about the wage or whatever…I just do what feels right, and what i want to in whatever situation…it’s usually servers, deliverers, nail or hair folks, cabbies, shuttle bus drivers, valets, hotel housekeeping, bartenders…but it could be just about anyone…usually 10-20%…just follow your heart.</p>
Unfortunately. most of us have hearts that are constrained by our wallets. I can’t lavish 10-20% tips on “just about anyone”. I promise to reconsider when I win the lottery.</p>
<p>^^Too true, there just isn’t that much extra money. Please follow your heart and fly on my airline, and lavish a 20% tip on me. I promise a smooth landing if you do.</p>
<p>I always enjoy threads like this. I particularly like learning that there are only two kids of people: those who “don’t tip” and those who “tip everyone.”</p>
<p>Note , I didn’t say I tip everyone all the time. Of course, I can’t afford to do that. I said that it could be almost anyone. I have an honest mechanic that does a great job, and does it quickly. I have been known to give him extra and tell him to take his wife out for dinner. You should see the smile on his face! Makes it worth doing every once in a while…AND, like magic, it comes back around.</p>
<p>It never occurred to me to tip for take-out. We don’t get it that frequently but I assume the service involved is less than a sit down order. No one had to recite specials to me, answer my questions about how a dish is prepared, bring me extra napkins, refill water glassses, take my order and bring the appetizers then the meal, clear dishes, ask about dessert, stop by to see if we needed anything, etc. For takeout they are only doing less than half of those tasks and we are not taking up space.</p>
<p>DH was a waiter at a country club in his youth and that makes him very sympathetic to waitstaff; we always tip 20% or more. But it never occurred to us to tip for take out. He always tries to tip service people who are especially helpful.</p>
<p>I too get annoyed by tip jars everywhere. We do tip at the ice cream shop at the end of our vacation because we know they are college kids and we get to know them over the week. We also bring snacks to the lifeguards and so forth. But I don’t know why I should tip the barista when I have to wait in line to order my coffee etc. I never know how they split up that money anyway.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t tip the person at the clothing store who helps me put the clothes in the dressing room, fetches another size when one doesn’t fit, and suggests coordinating shoes. There mere fact that someone works in a customer service industry does not entitle her to a tip, IMHO.</p>
<p>Waitresses, cab drivers, and bartenders get 20%; waiters at buffet lunches get 10%; everyone else may get some spare change or a dollar if I’m feeling beneficent or it was a particularly complicated order, but there is absolutely no obligation to do so.</p>
<p>I do tip on takeout from an actual restaurant (not 20%, a dollar or a few depending on size of order) because usually it’s a host, server or bartender who is getting my takeout order together and that takes time away from their tables or bar customers.</p>
<p>I used to be in the business though, so am more sensitive to that stuff than most.</p>
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<p>Exactly. </p>
<p>I don’t tip for picking up pizza, fast food, or most places where I stand in line and no one would wait on me even if I stayed.</p>
<p>Where my son works most of the time your take out order is taken by a wait staff person, filled and brought to you by a wait staff person. This person makes $2.10 an hour so a tip is important. Many people do not tip for this service, so the $2.10 and hour goes to taxes, etc. They are basically working for free. The all hate to do this job.</p>
<p>srw- I know that’s true in many states. Living in California where the minimum wage even for tipped employees is $8.00 an hour, I find it really nuts that people in many other states are working for so little. Waiting tables is a hard job. It just seems crazy that the servers should be dependent upon the good will of the patrons to even get a decent wage.
We have a lot of great eating establishments her in the golden state, and paying their employees a decent minimum wage hasn’t seemed to hurt their businesses much. At one of our favorite family restaurants many of the servers have been working there for 10 years!</p>
<p>Moonchild, when I waited tables over 25 years ago, my average take home was about $12/hr. as a waitress/college student, with a paycheck consisting of $1.85/hr.</p>
<p>I just read an article about eliminating tipping and it had many good points. Apologize if someone has already shared this. This restaurant got rid of tipping:</p>
<p>I waited tables for almost a decade, starting at a chain restaurant and ending at a top notch locally-owned-and-operated establishment. In regards to the OP’s actual question, I would not tip on a meal picked up from a sit-down restaurant. Here is why:</p>
<p>1) There is no opportunity cost. I am not taking a table or otherwise denying the server the time to make money.
2) Such actions are part of the (admittedly pitiful) wage that they receive from the owner.
3) While they are taxed on 8% of all sales (including pickup orders!), the 10-15% they might get taxed on that 8% comes down to around 1% of the order.
4) While tipping enough to cover that loss would certainly be appropriate, I actually saw more servers get ****ed off at a “small” pickup tip than at none at all!</p>
<p>So it is up to you, but I would say that 10% is more than is either deserved or needed. Tip a percent or two to cover the loss, if it will make you feel better. None of us ever expected a tip just for carrying a bag to the host station.</p>
<p>That is true, though you are taking the server’s time away from his/her tables and that may cause a loss in service/tip to those tables.</p>
<p>In the NYC restaurant I worked in, we had to present a menu, take the takeout order, put the order into the kitchen, be aware of timing of pickup, get the order, put a top on the container, package the included salad, bread, condiments, etc., bag the whole thing, walk it all over to the bar and present a bill and deal with payment. Not inconsequential and extremely annoying if I had tables waiting on me.</p>
<p>I tipped $2 for a $23 pick up order at Buca di Beppo yesterday and $1 for a pizza pick up order today. I was happy when I saw the happy face of the girls handing me the food. They looked like HS students.</p>